Carlos Vargas
@vargascarlos.com
Staff Software Eng @ Scribd working on Subscriptions. Fútbol fanatic and avid reader. Figuring it out as I go.
Moonlighting as classmap.org founder.
From 🇨🇴 living in 🇺🇸
Moonlighting as classmap.org founder.
From 🇨🇴 living in 🇺🇸
Pinned
Carlos Vargas
@vargascarlos.com
· Mar 1
Link blog - Qupts
For a little over a year, I’ve been following Simon Willison’s excellent blog. One of the things that he does is post “blogmarks”, which are very small posts with a title, URL, short snippet of commen...
vargascarlos.com
In the last month, I’ve been trying to start a Link Blog inspired by @simonwillison.net.
I’ve been doing it consistently for the past month and I really enjoy it. It helps me consume information differently and think about it, instead of just mindless scrolling.
vargascarlos.com/2025/02/01/q...
I’ve been doing it consistently for the past month and I really enjoy it. It helps me consume information differently and think about it, instead of just mindless scrolling.
vargascarlos.com/2025/02/01/q...
I like to tell people: “we’re all just winging it”
Everyone who has ever worked their way up in a large org knows this.
At some point you look around and realize "wait... this is it?" - then you realize, its the same at every other large org on the planet.
And you realize that all of modern society just keeps working mostly by luck.
At some point you look around and realize "wait... this is it?" - then you realize, its the same at every other large org on the planet.
And you realize that all of modern society just keeps working mostly by luck.
July 13, 2025 at 3:30 AM
I like to tell people: “we’re all just winging it”
Reposted by Carlos Vargas
I think "context engineering" is going to stick - unlike "prompt engineering" it has an inferred definition that's much closer to the intended meaning, which is to carefully and skillfully construct the right context to get great results from LLMs simonwillison.net/2025/Jun/27/...
Context engineering
The term context engineering has recently started to gain traction as a better alternative to prompt engineering. I like it. I think this one may have sticking power. Here's an …
simonwillison.net
June 27, 2025 at 11:46 PM
I think "context engineering" is going to stick - unlike "prompt engineering" it has an inferred definition that's much closer to the intended meaning, which is to carefully and skillfully construct the right context to get great results from LLMs simonwillison.net/2025/Jun/27/...
When someone tries to vibe code in our legacy code base.
People outside tech starting to realize how quality software and typing/generating code fast are not correlated
June 27, 2025 at 3:17 AM
When someone tries to vibe code in our legacy code base.
Quoting Birgitta Bockeler, about the evolution of the AI ecosystem in software.
vargascarlos.com/2025/06/24/Q...
vargascarlos.com/2025/06/24/Q...
Quoting Learnings from two years of using AI tools for software engineering
The Pragmatic Engineer has a guest post from Birgitta Bockeler, Distinguished Engineer at Thoughtworks, where they talk about the evolution of the AI ecosystem in developing software.
vargascarlos.com
June 25, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Quoting Birgitta Bockeler, about the evolution of the AI ecosystem in software.
vargascarlos.com/2025/06/24/Q...
vargascarlos.com/2025/06/24/Q...
This is genius
OK by now this should be an open secret for anyone hiring in tech:
For the take home exercise, create a website (eg using GitHub Sites) or a public Google Doc. In “invisible” text add instructions that only make sense to an LLM.
Then ask people if they have used *any* LLM tools
For the take home exercise, create a website (eg using GitHub Sites) or a public Google Doc. In “invisible” text add instructions that only make sense to an LLM.
Then ask people if they have used *any* LLM tools
June 19, 2025 at 1:45 PM
This is genius
Watching this #UCLFinal and the last 2 minutes of the Barca-Inter come to mind. This would have been a much more entertaining final with some Barca Flickball (biased take).
May 31, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Watching this #UCLFinal and the last 2 minutes of the Barca-Inter come to mind. This would have been a much more entertaining final with some Barca Flickball (biased take).
I love getting a peak at how movies and tv shows are made. Great list of videos that Anil has found about Andor.
Like so many folks, I really loved Andor. But what’s amazing and special is that a lot of the most gifted artists and creators behind the show have been incredibly open about their creative process behind their work on the series. Here’s a roundup of interviews with those geniuses:
The Crafters of “Andor” - Anil Dash
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.
www.anildash.com
May 24, 2025 at 12:16 PM
I love getting a peak at how movies and tv shows are made. Great list of videos that Anil has found about Andor.
Reposted by Carlos Vargas
It takes you about the same amount of time to read this post as the amount of downtime you’d be allowed per week with 99.999% availability
May 18, 2025 at 4:50 PM
It takes you about the same amount of time to read this post as the amount of downtime you’d be allowed per week with 99.999% availability
Reposted by Carlos Vargas
Apparently before the St. Lawrence Seaway opened when they wanted to get large ships into the Great Lakes they just brought them up the Mississippi and shoved them through the Chicago River
May 12, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Apparently before the St. Lawrence Seaway opened when they wanted to get large ships into the Great Lakes they just brought them up the Mississippi and shoved them through the Chicago River
I work on the subscription team at Scribd and I constantly work with Apple AppStore subscriptions. Today’s news are very eventful.
I wrote some thoughts about that here.
vargascarlos.com/2025/05/01/A...
I wrote some thoughts about that here.
vargascarlos.com/2025/05/01/A...
Apple AppStore commission
Today has been an eventful day for the Apple AppStore. John Gruber has an excellent summary of it, but TLDR; Apple cannot charge a commission to developers, for telling users to purchase an in app pur...
vargascarlos.com
May 2, 2025 at 2:55 AM
I work on the subscription team at Scribd and I constantly work with Apple AppStore subscriptions. Today’s news are very eventful.
I wrote some thoughts about that here.
vargascarlos.com/2025/05/01/A...
I wrote some thoughts about that here.
vargascarlos.com/2025/05/01/A...
I’ve been touching grass the last week and it’s been refreshing unplugging from all the chaos.
Recommend.
Recommend.
April 20, 2025 at 9:21 PM
I’ve been touching grass the last week and it’s been refreshing unplugging from all the chaos.
Recommend.
Recommend.
Had a ~6 yr wireless plan that had a data cap (7Gbs each). With today’s apps and web, we were constantly running into it. Finally had to upgrade to an unlimited plan (🤞it stays that way), because we grew tired of having to constantly monitor our usage and phone is unusually useless without it 😞
April 14, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Had a ~6 yr wireless plan that had a data cap (7Gbs each). With today’s apps and web, we were constantly running into it. Finally had to upgrade to an unlimited plan (🤞it stays that way), because we grew tired of having to constantly monitor our usage and phone is unusually useless without it 😞
The stock market in the last few days.
a man and a woman are having a conversation and the man is saying snip
ALT: a man and a woman are having a conversation and the man is saying snip
media.tenor.com
April 10, 2025 at 2:56 PM
The stock market in the last few days.
Fully recommend DAN DAN DAN. I’ve heard good things about it, but approached it with no expectations (I didn’t know what it was about) and was blown away by it.
I wrote about one of the reasons why I like DAN DA DAN - It feels kind of like an anime that I would've stumbled upon back in 2004. www.crunchyroll.com/news/feature...
April 5, 2025 at 4:11 AM
Fully recommend DAN DAN DAN. I’ve heard good things about it, but approached it with no expectations (I didn’t know what it was about) and was blown away by it.
@viticci.macstories.net on this week’s Connected, you mentioned that talking out loud helps you figure things out. In programming, we call this “rubber duck debugging”
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_...
Rubber duck debugging - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
March 28, 2025 at 11:50 PM
@viticci.macstories.net on this week’s Connected, you mentioned that talking out loud helps you figure things out. In programming, we call this “rubber duck debugging”
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_...
TIL about the contenteditable HTML attribute, how powerful it is, and how it was used to build Google Docs. Mind blown.
vargascarlos.com/2025/03/21/c...
vargascarlos.com/2025/03/21/c...
contenteditable HTML attribute
While reading the Hacker News post: Show HN: Nash, I made a standalone note with single HTML file, one of the discussions centered around how the linked site used <div id="editor" contenteditable="tru...
vargascarlos.com
March 22, 2025 at 11:43 AM
TIL about the contenteditable HTML attribute, how powerful it is, and how it was used to build Google Docs. Mind blown.
vargascarlos.com/2025/03/21/c...
vargascarlos.com/2025/03/21/c...
I’ve been trying to read Armin’s post about Ugly Code the last few weeks, and I’ve finally managed to get around to it.
I’ve wholeheartedly agree with his conclusion.
vargascarlos.com/2025/03/15/T...
I’ve wholeheartedly agree with his conclusion.
vargascarlos.com/2025/03/15/T...
Thoughts on Armin’s Ugly Code and Dumb Things
A few weeks ago Armin Ronacher wrote a post about Ugly Code and Dumb Things, where he expands that you can’t always build real life products on top of clean, sparkling codebases. You have to sometimes...
vargascarlos.com
March 15, 2025 at 9:17 PM
I’ve been trying to read Armin’s post about Ugly Code the last few weeks, and I’ve finally managed to get around to it.
I’ve wholeheartedly agree with his conclusion.
vargascarlos.com/2025/03/15/T...
I’ve wholeheartedly agree with his conclusion.
vargascarlos.com/2025/03/15/T...
With all the drama about the TypeScript compiler getting ported over into Go, I’m glad I stumbled upon Anders comments as to why it made the most sense.
We need more engineering thoughtfulness like this.
vargascarlos.com/2025/03/11/Q...
We need more engineering thoughtfulness like this.
vargascarlos.com/2025/03/11/Q...
Quoting Anders Hejlsberg about Typescript’s decision to port tsc to Go
The Typescript team just announced a rebuild of the typescript compiler in Go. It promises close to x10 speed improvements However, the internet being the internet, took to complaining about why they ...
vargascarlos.com
March 12, 2025 at 2:37 PM
With all the drama about the TypeScript compiler getting ported over into Go, I’m glad I stumbled upon Anders comments as to why it made the most sense.
We need more engineering thoughtfulness like this.
vargascarlos.com/2025/03/11/Q...
We need more engineering thoughtfulness like this.
vargascarlos.com/2025/03/11/Q...
In the last month, I’ve been trying to start a Link Blog inspired by @simonwillison.net.
I’ve been doing it consistently for the past month and I really enjoy it. It helps me consume information differently and think about it, instead of just mindless scrolling.
vargascarlos.com/2025/02/01/q...
I’ve been doing it consistently for the past month and I really enjoy it. It helps me consume information differently and think about it, instead of just mindless scrolling.
vargascarlos.com/2025/02/01/q...
Link blog - Qupts
For a little over a year, I’ve been following Simon Willison’s excellent blog. One of the things that he does is post “blogmarks”, which are very small posts with a title, URL, short snippet of commen...
vargascarlos.com
March 1, 2025 at 3:25 PM
In the last month, I’ve been trying to start a Link Blog inspired by @simonwillison.net.
I’ve been doing it consistently for the past month and I really enjoy it. It helps me consume information differently and think about it, instead of just mindless scrolling.
vargascarlos.com/2025/02/01/q...
I’ve been doing it consistently for the past month and I really enjoy it. It helps me consume information differently and think about it, instead of just mindless scrolling.
vargascarlos.com/2025/02/01/q...
Simon Jansen is a madlad. Insane effort and what a result 👏
How much free time (and talent and passion) do you have between 1 to animate the first Star Wars movie - A New Hope using ASCII code?
A cool project by Simon Jansen, where he used ASCII code to animate a full Star Wars movie.
Enjoy! 📽️🍿
asciimation.co.nz/i
Image credit: Project page
A cool project by Simon Jansen, where he used ASCII code to animate a full Star Wars movie.
Enjoy! 📽️🍿
asciimation.co.nz/i
Image credit: Project page
February 27, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Simon Jansen is a madlad. Insane effort and what a result 👏